North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John S <swim_at_svc@yahoo.com>]

Melissa, I grow honeyberries and have 7 (possibly more) varieties at this point.  I find them to be very worthwhile.  In taste and texture I find them very similar to blueberries, but significantly more fragile (and no, I have never tried to peel them!).  There is, however, more "character" to the taste, and different cultivars do vary in taste more than you find in blueberries.

They are very winter hardy, and start blooming very early, in fact almost too early for there to be pollinators to service them.  (more later) 

One Green World has been working hard to bring more varieties of these onto the market. They must have about a dozen varieties now and seem to add another every year or so.  They have been my primary source and are located in the US (Oregon).  Because they start growing so early in the year, and must be shipped across the country, I have had a few shipping related losses with them.  They start to leaf out before they are shipped, and get stressed during shipment.  They do not handle drying out well and need careful handling when they first arrive.  This will likely be a factor for you in NY.

Because of space limitations, I must grow mine in large pots.  This creates a problem in the later summer/early fall when we get a lot of sun and very little rain here.  Heat and limited moisture makes the plants go dormant sooner than I would like and if I do not water regularly, I risk losing them, especially in the pots.  Other than that, I have had very few problems.  The birds seem to ignore the fruit and there are not significant numbers of fruit eating insects to bother them at the times they are ripening.

Berries color up significantly before the fruit has matured enough for consumption and it can be easy to pick them prematurely and not be happy with the taste.  I always wait until I see a few fruit start to drop, then I know they are ready.  They also hold on the plant reasonably well, which is a nice feature for the home gardener.

OGW offers them in two maturity categories, one they state is better for Oregon because they flower later and one suitable for colder climates that flower earlier.  However, I have more production and success with the later blooming varieties.  It might be because they are in pots that the others heat up quicker and flower sooner, or some other reason.

I am growing Blue Bird, Blue Bell, Berry Blue, Blue Moon, Blue Velvet, Kamchatka, Blue Sky, Blue Forest and perhaps a couple more.  They differ in plant size, fruit production, fruit size and fruit flavor.  I believe that some are better pollinators than fruit producers.  I'd recommend that you get 3 or 4 different plants from OGW to get started, then evaluate but suggest you start with the later blooming ones.  I do have a fondness for Blue Moon and have had some moderate success in starting extra plants to expand my fruit production.

Also, since you indicated an interest in the unusual, OGW is also doing pioneering work in spreading quality varieties of Seaberry plants.  I bought a male and female from Indiana Berry Co years ago.  The male died and female flourished, so I ended up buying another male from OGW.  The plant was large, vigorous and fertile, resulting in an immediate fruit crop that next year.  I followed up with a purchase of a female var Sunny from OGW, and found that the fruit size was easily twice to 3 times the IndBerry var. when it fruited the next year.  This year I added another female from OGW which I expect to fruit next year.  Seaberry really deserves better exposure in the states.

I should also state that I have no ties with OGW other than being a repeat customer.

John





--- On Mon, 9/8/08, Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>
Subject: [NAFEX] crabapples, and haskaps
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Monday, September 8, 2008, 6:43 PM

I've been enjoying the lively discussions of obscure
fruit on this list. My husband and I just bought a
house with a big yard, and we're eager to rip up the
useless lawn and plant more interesting plants next
spring. You're all giving us lots of great ideas.

Crabapples have been discussed recently by people who
enjoy eating them fresh. I'd never considered any sort
of apple for our garden, since the usual apple
varieties can't be grown organically in this
 area
(central NY, zone 5), and I don't want to have to
bother with spraying. How do these crabs for fresh
eating do against pests? Are they more resistant than
the usual apples?

Assuming these crabs are more resistant to pests, do
they really taste good? I realize that's a very
subjective question, of course, so I'm going to
calibrate my tastes for you all with a familiar apple.
My favorite apple of the commonly available varieties
is 'Granny Smith' because that's the crunchiest and
most flavorful. (I like 'Gold Rush" even better, but
that's more obscure.) Are there crabapples with a
crunch and taste sort of like that?

But anyway, I'm mostly thinking of planting species
that are so obscure, the local pests hopefully won't
know what to do with them. Haskaps, Lonicera
caerulea,sound particularly intriguing. This is a blue
berry that ripens two weeks before strawberries, and
is reputedly
 tasty eaten fresh, like blueberries.
Here's more info about them:
http://www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/dom_fruit/articles/growing_haskap_mar2008.pdf
The species has various other names, like blue
honeysuckle and honeyberries, but the new varieties
that have just been developed by the University of
Saskatchewan that are supposedly so much tastier than
the earlier varieties, the breeders want to distance
themselves completely from the earlier kinds by using
a different name. Haskap is a traditional name for
this berry in Japan. Here are the new varieties:
http://www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/dom_fruit/articles/new_varieties.pdf
The trouble is, these varieties seem to be available
only in Canada, and I can't find a Canadian nursery
that can ship plants to the US. Is there any way I can
buy these plants?

Melissa
Central NY, zone 5




     
 
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